


Guardians of The Sea

by Diana_Munroe



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Little Mermaid - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Magic, Mermaids, crossover no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:20:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diana_Munroe/pseuds/Diana_Munroe
Summary: Felicity is a mermaid with a thirst for adventure and is curious by nature. When merpeople start getting sick in her kingdom, she investigates and the trail leads her right to the neighboring human kingdom of Starling. She thinks she might find an ally in the mysterious Hood, a vigilante who seems bent on protecting human and merfolk alike, but only time will tell if he can be trusted. And as darkness begins to envelop both the land and sea, Felicity learns that she might just have to open her heart in more ways than she ever dreamed of in order to save her kingdom and the human world above.





	1. Mysteries of the Deep

**Author's Note:**

> How did this story come to be you ask? I honestly have no idea. I was listening to the Little Mermaid one day and thinking about Arrow and suddenly to the two worlds merged. The crossover that no one asked for and I normally don't do crossover fics, but this was too interesting to remain in my head. I hope you like it. (This is a multi-chapter fic)

Felicity had heard the stories since she was a little mergirl. The stories of the beautiful, but rebellious mermaid, Ariel and how she feel in love with a human. Now whether or not she lived happily ever after as a human with her prince or dissolved into sea foam after the prince marries someone else depends on who tells the story, but Felicity thought both versions of the story were unpleasant. Felicity loved being a mermaid and she couldn’t imagine living life out of the sea. She loved helping her fellow sea creatures and merfolk as much as she loved solving the mysteries of deepest ocean. Who would give that up? Especially for a biped. 

Despite her lack of concern, she couldn’t help, but have some knowledge of the human world, especially the Kingdom of Starling. Starling was a thriving seaside kingdom made rich by trade and expert shipbuilders. The southside of the castle had its very own dock and private beach while the northside opened the castle up to travelers by land. The Kingdom of Starling sat that the very edge of Pacifica, the waters that Felicity’s adoptive father, King Qu’tin L’ance, had claimed for his own. Her father was a revolutionary figure in the merworld, and the first, that she knew, to openly communicate and negotiate with humans. Her father had said, “The only way to protect our home is to let the human know that we are here. To let them know that the ocean has a voice.” So far, her adoptive father’s strategy had worked. There was peace between the human and merpeople and sometimes, through her father’s own special brand of magic, a few merfolk delegates were allowed to walk among the humans for a few days for negotiations and decision-making. 

The magic that her father used was pure, straight from the spirit of the oceans and the power of the waves, given focus and shape to be used however the king wished. Her father told her of the many hours of practice and study he had gone through to master the magic of the sea; study, that Felicity was taken on herself...in secret. Though the King loved Felicity as one of his own, she was still not his daughter by blood and more importantly, not in line for the throne. That honor belonged to her oldest foster sister, Laurel. Beautiful, gorgeous Laurel, who was just born to be queen and everyone who met her knew it. It wasn’t that Laurel would brag, she just had the thing that made people want to fall at her tailfin and worship. Felicity didn’t claim to understand it; she just knew it was a thing; a power that Laurel had that she did not. But Felicity wished no ill will on her foster sister. She and her other foster sister, Sara, had held Laurel as she cried, crumpled and broke under the pressure of being the next ruler of Pacifica. As they matured out of mergirlhood, Laurel had hardened and had stopped coming to her sisters for comfort and support. Felicity couldn’t really explain it, but over the past few years, Laurel had gained a certain edge of darkness that merman seemed to find alluring. It worried Felicity, but she didn’t want to raise her concerns without proof that something was wrong. Until then, she watched and waited.

What concerned Felicity the most is that her father’s magic, was not the only magic in the sea. Dark magic, which gained its power from the lifeforce of the sea creatures or merfolk around the caster, was also rampant in the kingdom. Felicity wasn’t the only one who has grown up with stories of Ariel, the mermaid. Plenty of other merfolk had a fascination with the human world and rather than wait for her father to grant their wish of walking on land, they went to The Dark Magician, who gave them totems to temporarily turn them into humans. One could almost always tell when a mermaid or merman had been with The Dark Magician. They came back sick and weakened for a few days, with their eyes slightly sunken in. Mostly, they made a full recovery, but some merfolk had simply disappeared. Felicity had noticed more and more merpeople afflicted with “magic sickness” as she called it. Something was happening.The mystery of the entire thing was driving her crazy. And more than that, it was dangerous. She long believed that mysteries needed to be solved. 

It was this mystery that had led her to the docks of Starling Castle. She had noticed that Roy, a stablehand worked with seahorses and dolphins, had been sick for a week. She liked Roy and, despite their differences in status, considered him one of her closest friends. She had seen him leave his sea cottage and swim out into the night when normally he would have remained sleeping. Felicity thought this might be the chance she had been waiting for and followed him. Roy swam under the dock, getting so close to the shore that she was scared that he might beach himself. Instead, he stopped right before the water became too shallow. 

“Hey!” he called, “You there?”

Felicity ducked behind a pillar and waited. From behind a large rock, a young lady appeared with long, curly chestnut hair and a mischievous, but not unfriendly smile. She wore a long white shift that bellowed slightly in the late night breeze. She cocked her hip side and laughed. 

“You missed me?” 

“You already know the answer to that,” Roy replied. 

“But I want to hear you say it,” the girl insisted. 

“Well if you want to play games…” Roy turned as if he was about to swim away. 

“Roy Harper, don’t you dare!” exclaimed the girl and tossed off her shift, revealing a two piece fabric swimming costume underneath. She ran into the water, swimming to Roy as soon as the water was deep enough. Roy just smiled and waited. When she finally got to him, Roy held her by the waist and moved the wet hair out of her face. 

“I missed you,” he whispered and kissed her soundly. 

Felicity turned her face away, embarrassed that she had intruded on her friend’s private moment. She was about to swim back home when she heard some more of their conversation. 

“Are you ready to swim with me?” Roy asked. 

“Definitely, but hey, I wanted to know, can you turn human again in 3 days?” she asked. 

Felicity’s ears perked up. Turn human?! Again!! What was Roy doing?

“I don’t know,” he replied, “What’s going on in 3 days?”

“My brother is coming back.”

“Your brother? I thought he was…”

“Dead. So did we. My mother received a letter a few days ago from my brother, telling her that he was alright and that he hadn’t died in the shipwreck. He had been living on a harsh jungle island for 5 years,” she said. 

“Your father?” Roy asked. 

The girl shook her head, “Didn’t make it. The King is still gone.”

The King! Felicity thought. If that girl’s father was the King, then that means the Roy was holding Princess Thea in his arms. A mermaid/human affair was already dangerous, but being in love with human royalty was another thing altogether. Roy was happy with her that was clear, but their relationship was going to be at the least very difficult and that the most, dangerous for both the human and mer kingdoms. 

Thea continued, “My mother is calling for a huge masked ball at the castle to celebrate my brother’s return. I missed him so much , but… just need…”

“I’ll be there.”

Thea looked up at him with her heart in her eyes, “Really?” 

“Yeah. It’s not every day your brother returns. Just make sure I’ll have something to wear this time.” 

“It will be all arranged. And maybe afterward, we can have some fun too,” she said seductively, gently stroking Roy’s chest. 

Felicity took that as her cue to go and silently slipped under the gentle waves. She had learned a lot from following her old friend. Not only was he in a relationship with a human princess, he had been turning human repeatedly for who knows how long. The one thing she did know what that in 3 days time, she would return to the castle, discover what type of trouble her friend had gotten himself into to make him human and see what, if anything, she could learn at the ball celebrating return of the infamous Prince Oliver.


	2. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter is from Oliver's perspective. He's had a long journey to get home.

** Two Month Ago**

Oliver felt the warm blood splatter across his face as his blade sliced across an unnamed pirate’s chest. He kicked him out of his way and charged to the next foolish man who dared to cross blades with him. The screams and clashes of metal from the fights all around him blended into background noise as he singularly focused on getting to the murderous captain of this ship. The men from Oliver’s ship, Verdant, continued flood the deck as Oliver sliced, punched and kicked his way to his father’s killer, Captain Lawton.

“LAWTON!” he bellowed. 

As if his men weren’t dying around him, Captain Lawton eased into Oliver’s sight. His long blue coat presine, eyepatch perfectly in place and his hat centered on his head, he was the very definition of calm among chaos. 

Lawton raised his one eyebrow, “Captain Hood, I heard you’ve been looking for me.” 

Oliver roared and launched himself at him. 

Lawton blocked all of the Oliver’s lethal blows with ease. Each strike to the head, the chest were parried with a flair that further enraged Oliver. 

“You’re really quite good,” Lawton commented, “I actually have to work to stop you from killing me.” 

“Shut up!!” Oliver shouted and redoubled his effort to drive his sword thorough Lawton’s heart. 

“It’s been three years, Captain Hood. I still don’t understand why you want to kill me so bad.” 

“You know why.” Oliver sneered.

“No,” Lawton said and with three quick motions, knocked Oliver’s sword out of this hand. With this blade tip at his throat, Lawton continued, “I really don’t.” 

The whole ship froze as Captain Lawton had clearly gained the upper hand.

“You killed my father,” Oliver spat. 

Lawton laughed, “Do you know how many fathers I’ve killed? You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

“He was a king,” Oliver said. 

Lawton narrowed his eyes, “Now that does narrow the list.”

Suddenly a knife flew past Oliver and sank deep into Lawton’s upper arm. 

Lawton screamed. 

Oliver looked back to see his second, Diggle, give the order, “Men! Back to the ship!” 

Oliver picked up his sword and marched to Lawton who was clutching his injured arm. He stared at Oliver defiantly. 

“You’d never,” Lawton challenged, “In 3 years, you’ve never killed in cold blood.”

“Is that what the stories say?” Oliver questioned darkly. 

“CAPTAIN!” Diggle shouted over the fray. 

Oliver lifted his sword to Lawton’s throat, “I’ve dreamed of nothing, but this moment for years. A little thing like ‘fair play’ is not going to stop me” 

“That’s bad form, little prince. To get to revenge without justice,” Lawton chided. 

Oliver’s eyes narrowed, “What are you talking about?” 

“I’m a businessman. I don’t kill unless I’m paid to do it. You can kill me, but you might want to know who hired me first.” 

“You’d never…” 

“The Dark Magician of Sterling,” he said. Oliver’s face drained of all color.

“He’s a myth,” Oliver said.

“Is he now? It was a coincidence that a storm blew your ship off course, right into my path. That we knew exactly how to board your ship to avoid cannonfire.”

Oliver increased the pressure of this sword along Lawton’s throat, “That changes nothing.”

Oliver swung his sword into a wide arc. Lawton closed his eyes. A dart flew and hit Lawton in the neck, making him fall over just before Oliver’s sword came down on his head. 

“They’re getting up, Captain. Move your ass!!” shouted Dinah Drake over the starboard bow of Verdant. 

Oliver ran to the end of the ship, grabbed a rope and swung onto the deck of Verdant. As soon as he landed, he looked up at Diggle who was at the helm.

“Get us out of here,” he ordered. 

“Aye, Aye, Captain,” Diggle said and turned the ship about.

“You!” he said, pointing a Dinah, “In my quarters! Now!” 

Oliver marched down to his captain’s quarters and turned on Dinah as soon as he reached his cramped, but solitary corner of the ship. 

“What the hell was that?!” he yelled as soon as they were alone. 

“I could ask you the same thing, Captain,” she challenged back. 

“You dare--” 

“No food, no gold, no jewels, no plan! The crew is running out of fresh water and stale bread and you throw us into a raid with almost nothing to show for it!”

“That’s not your decision, Dinah!” 

“Jonas, you’ve had it in for Lawton since I met you, but this is crazy. If you’re not careful, you are going to get yourself killed and the crew along with it. You would have died today of Dig and I hadn’t interfered,” Dinah insisted. 

“I can handle Lawton,” he said. 

Dinah huffed, “Tell that to your bleeding thigh.” 

Oliver looked down to a small gash across the top of his leg. 

Dinah shook her head, “You didn’t even know it was there.” 

She walked over the wall, removed a panel, and pulled of the captain’s secret stash of good rum. 

“How did you…”

“You’re not as good at keeping secrets as you think you are.”

Dinah popped the cork from the bottle and poured it into the wound. Oliver gritted his teeth in pain, but otherwise didn’t utter a sound. Dinah looked at Oliver’s grimace. 

“Good,” she said, “Maybe now you’ll listen.”

Dinah continued, “You’re my captain and more than that, you’re my friend. But lately, your thirst for revenge has made you reckless. You could lose the ship if the men aren’t fed. Something you wouldn’t have lost sight of a few months ago.”

“Are you threatening me with mutiny?” 

“I’m trying to tell you that the situation is… delicate. You’ve changed and I’m not the only one who’s seen it,” she concluded.

Diggle took that as his cue to open the door and let himself in, “She’s right. You’re different.”

Oliver looked between his two most trusted lieutenants and came to decision.

“I need to go home,” he stated.

“What?” Dinah asked, “Why?” 

“Because you’re right. You both are. I haven’t been here, for months. My focus hasn’t been on the crew or ship. It’s been back in Starling,” he said. 

“What happened?” Diggle asked. 

Oliver sighed, “I saw my sister. 3 months ago.”

“When we were in Tortuga? What the hell was a princess doing there?” Dinah asked.

Oliver laughed, “My sister has always been good at getting trouble. And that was no exception.” 

Oliver sobered, “That night, she was nearly kidnapped and raped. If I and another man hadn’t interfered, she would have been.”

“I’m sorry,” Dinah said. 

“After it was over, I realized that I couldn’t take care of her. My sister was nearly ravished by a gang of thugs and because she thought I was dead, I had to leave her in the hands of a stranger. She is of marriageable age now. Male nobles will be at her feet, pleading for her hand just to get the throne,” Oliver’s voice lowered an octave, “My throne.” 

Diggle and Dinah looked at each other. Diggle nodded. Dinah reached inside her satchel and pulled out a piece of paper. 

“If you’re going to storm the castle, you’ll need this,” she said and laid the paper on Oliver’s small desk. 

“What’s this?” 

“While you two were battling on deck, some of us we below deck doing some actual work,” she said and then turned her head to the paper, “It’s a map of Starling that I found in Captain Lawton’s office, but it’s been divided into provinces with names written on each sections. What’s really odd is that that sea is divided as well into sections that are separate from the land.” 

“Who would want a sea-only land claim?” Diggle asked. 

“No idea, but it’s there,”Dinah said, “And the name right over the castle is--” 

Oliver growled, “Malcolm Merlyn.”  
\---------------------------  
** Present Day ** When John Diggle looked at the finely dressed man with a close cut shave beside him on horseback, he hardly recognized his old captain. With a royal demeanor, he rode with confidence and ease. 

“I can feel you staring,” Oliver said. 

“It’s just strange… your majesty,” Diggle replied, drawing out the last word. Strange had been the word for the last month as Oliver transformed himself from the pirate, Captain Jonas Hood to the Prince Oliver of his youth. In his time away from the land of his birth, he had learned how to be a warrior; how to adapt to his surroundings and to always be alert for potential danger which was never far away. He had cheated death several times over and had brought death upon many who had crossed his path. He had shed his royal name and the trappings of a mind shaped by comfort in order to survive. When he had decided to come home, he knew that him slipping back in the world of royalty and privilege he was born into would take some adjustment, but he didn’t think it would be so… uncomfortable.

The fine clothes, decorative attire and attentive servants felt strange after so long on his own and then as the captain of a pirate ship. He planned to arrange at the castle without warning, save for the note he sent to the castle yesterday. He knew his mother would insist on a carriage to pick him up, but carriages limited his mobility, his perception and his hearing in a way could no longer stand. Horseback was better, and with John to join him, the company was good as well.

As they continued down the road, Oliver noticed all the changes in the kingdom he had once called home. Old villages were gone, new ones had sprung up and there were more than a few starving families on the road as they passed by. For the first time, Oliver wondered if more than his sister needed him in the days to come. The castle came into view right before sunset. Oliver paused and looked up at it. The castle that had been built by his ancestors and was his to inherit. The lands, the people were all his responsibility and honestly, he was still figuring out how he felt about that. But he had made his choice, and he wasn’t going to let fear get in his way of claiming what was rightfully his. 

“You ready?” John asked.

Oliver nodded and rode his horse down that last mile to Starling Castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know very little about ships, sword fights and horses. But I hope you will indulge me as I spin my tale of magic, mystery and mermaids.


End file.
